


Weak

by elvanshalee



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-26 23:45:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14413056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elvanshalee/pseuds/elvanshalee
Summary: Tony is now a Revenger. Loki and him are sleeping together. There may be more than that between them but they are both obvious. When one of them comes close to dying, will that help them or drive them apart?





	1. Fighting

Loki woke up in Tony's bed and immediately looked at his side. Great. The mortal wasn't awake yet, he wouldn't know he had stayed there after their night together. The only problem was that Tony's head was still resting on his arm and he couldn't move without risking to wake him up. He swore at himself. Why had he stayed? How would Tony react if he found out? Was he going to know that Loki had stayed because he slept better at his side and therefore could guess what he felt for him. He knew that he could pretend that he had just fell asleep before he could move, just like Tony had done. But Tony was smart, would he be able to see through his facade? Loki had never doubted in his capacity to lie before but right now, he was scared. He looked at the sleeping man next to him and a small smile came to his face. He looked so peaceful for once. He never looked like that when he was awake. He was always thinking about some new idea, some addition to their ship, to his armor, to their weapons and even asleep he wasn't always so calm. He had nightmares, not so different from those that Loki had. But right now Tony's face reflected only peace and Loki couldn't look away. But he sensed Tony shifting and slowly awakening. He teleported into his own bedroom before the man could feel his presence. 

He let out a sigh and clenched his fists. He had been so careless! But he quickly faked a relaxed face, as though absolutely nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He felt like staying in his room, reading and taking time to put order in his feelings. But his thoughts were interrupted by Friday's voice.   
"Tony asked me to inform you that you forgot something in his room."   
Loki let out a sigh.   
"And why can't he inform me himself and bring what I forgot with him?"  
There was a moment of silence before the voice filled the room again.   
"Sir's words were 'tell him to bring his ass here and stop complaining'. Should I inform him that you will fulfill his demand?"  
Loki rolled his eyes.   
"No need to." 

He teleported in Tony's room and smirked when he heard him gasp.   
"You could have walked here like a normal person and knocked at the door! Or are you trying to kill me? Because I'm sure there are more effective ways to do it than trying to make me have a heart attack!"   
Loki just rolled his eyes again.   
"There are a thousands of ways I could kill you. You would have been a cold corpse since long ago if I had so desired. But you wished to see me so I didn't make you wait. You said I had forgotten something?"  
"Oh! Yeah. And by something I meant all of your clothes. Tell me you teleported to your room and didn't walk around completely naked."   
Loki smirked.   
"Why? Are you jealous that someone else might see me like that?"  
Tony frowned but his expression quickly got neutral again and he shrugged.   
"I don't really care. But I'm sure your brother would rather see you with your clothes on. But mostly, anyone could guess what we were doing if they saw you leaving my bedroom."   
Loki sat on Tony's bed and crossed his arms.   
"Well they may be idiots but no matter if I had clothes on or not, they would probably guess what's happening between us if they saw me leaving your room in the middle of the night. So don't worry, I got after you fell asleep in the most discreet fashion."   
That was only half a lie, Tony had still been sleeping when Loki had gotten away, even though it was way later that what he had implied. He wondered why he felt the need to convince himself that there was a part of truth in his words. He was the god of lies after all, he shouldn't feel this shame. He got up and gathered his clothes.   
"I will leave you now, before someone tries to come in and sees me with you."   
Tony looked at him for a few moments and hesitated.   
"You could stay..." 

He seemed to regret his words immediately and just grinned.   
"I'm sure we can get another round without anyone bothering us. I can ask Friday to tell them not to bother me anyway."   
Loki's face stayed absolutely unreadable, or at least he hoped so, he would hate for Tony to notice his disappointment. He simply shook his head and stood a bit straighter.   
"You think very highly of yourself if you expect to be able to entertain me for a long time if we do it so many times a day. Maybe we should... take our time more or it might be over very soon. You know how easily I get bored, you are not an exception."   
He got away without looking at Tony's face but hoping that his words would left an impact on him.  
Once alone in his own room again, he let out a deep sigh and sat on his bed for a moment. He needed to put distance between the mortal and himself. He hated the feelings that had invaded his heart, it made him vulnerable and the chances of them being reciprocated were so slim that he didn't let himself hope. Friday once again interrupted his thoughts.   
“We're going to land Mr Odinson. There are many more enemies than we previously thought and they seem to be heavily armed. I recommend extreme carefulness once on the ground.” 

Loki got ready in a few seconds and left his room to be with the team. Valkyrie was already in her armor, looking at them all.   
“Alright. These creatures are made of some sort of metal, harder than our armors. If they hit us, they might do great damages. But that’s not the worst. They are made to spit fire.”   
Tony grinned.  
“We're fighting dragons robots! That's a first.”   
Loki didn't pay attention to what Tony rambled about after that. A quick glance at his lover made his eyes widened in horror. He had not put his armor on yet and there was a mark still visible on his neck. A mark that couldn't be mistaken for anything else than a hickey. If he had seen it before he could have hid it with a simple glamour spell but now Thor knew. Would he guess who had done this? He sighed and focused on the enemies description again, he would have time to think about a lie to tell.   
“These things are probably controlled by someone not far from where the attacks are occurring but the scanners don’t show anything. So we can either try to fight them all and then find who made them or we can find him before but then the robots will have more time to kill other people. I think we’ll go with the smashing everything route.” 

Thor nodded, a gleam in his eyes. 

“We can’t let unarmed citizen get hurt. We’ll crush those things… and that will be a more exciting battle than finding one man.” 

They got to the town being attacked, the people there were fighting as well as they could but they clearly didn’t own the right weapons to be efficient. Loki threw one of his daggers at one of the machines, it hit right in the joint between its head and neck.   
“I found their weak points!”  
“Seriously? Who built robots with so obvious target? Is it Hammer tech? Is he selling things on other planets now? That’s bad design.” 

Loki would never admit it but he liked Tony’s blabber on the battlefield. His dagger reappeared in his hand and he struck down another robot just before it could hurt someone with its steel claws. He heard thunder and then the sound of metal against the ground, Thor had stricken at least ten of these things at the same time, he was getting better. He stayed behind the others to be between them and the fleeing citizens. He killed anything that got past the others and protected the people from any side effects from the fights such as crumbling buildings or missiles from the robots. Once the people in the zone had gotten away safely, he got serious, sticking his daggers in one creature after the others, seeing them fall like flees with a pleased grin. But something bothered him. There were many fallen enemies on the grounds but their number didn’t seem to decline. They might have to find the man controlling them or finish their battle exhausted.   
“Loki!”

He heard Tony’s voice and turned around just in time to see him get between him and the claws from one of the robots. He saw it rip through the armor and blood on the claws. Tony fell on the floor without a sound and didn’t move. Loki’s heart stopped for a second and then a scream escaped him. His magic flew around him and he could hear the beasts falling apart as it hit them. But he didn’t pay attention to them and rushed to Tony’s side. He knelt next to him and looked at the gashing wound.   
“Friday do you hear me? Can you open the suit and tell me more about Tony's state?”   
Friday opened the suit and her voice came from it. 

“A rib has been broken and it pierced sir's lungs. If nothing is done quickly, he's going to die.”   
Her voice held so much worry that Loki almost cried. He placed his hand on Tony's chest and made his magic flow through his body, trying to heal his wounds. But the ark reactor seemed to get in the way, filtering most of his magic like it had done with his scepter when he had tried to control it.   
“Tony... I won't let you die...”   
He finally could reach his lungs and extracted the bone while making his lungs whole again. But suddenly the ark reactor' light flickered then it stopped glowing entirely.   
“Sir, Tony's heart has stopped.”   
Loki screamed and tears rolled on his cheeks as he started moving his hands frantically over the body.   
“No! No! Please, Tony I beg you. You have to stay alive. Please...”  
His sentence had started by a scream and ended in pleading whispers.   
He had to make his heart beat again and stop all the internal bleeding at the same time or all his efforts would be useless. He couldn't let his lover die. Suddenly he felt Tony's heart beating again and the reactor lit up.   
“Sir isn't out of danger, but if you can stabilize him, you should be able to transfer him to the ship safely.”   
Loki looked around them, there was a shield preventing anyone from coming in, he hadn't even realized he had done that. Bruce and Valkyrie were looking at them while Thor ended the last creatures. Loki made the shield disappear and Bruce immediately came next to him.   
“Can we move him?”   
Loki gave a weak nod.   
“I'll use my magic to make sure his state doesn't worsen. But once we're on the ship, you'll have to work quickly, the damages are too bad for me to handle everything myself.”   
He got up and picked up Tony, keeping him protectively close.

Thor joined them just before they reached the ship.   
“The person controlling these things haven't been found yet. You and Valkyrie should go. I doubt you would be useful on the ship and if you don't find him and killed him, I'll have to go myself and I will not be merciful.” Loki spat.  
Thor frowned for a moment.  
“Loki...”  
“Go now! Search for him and don't bring him back or he'll know what the word torture means.” 

Thor gulped and looked like he wanted to say more but Valkyrie but a hand on his arm and shook her head.   
“He's right. If we let the man go, he'll build more of these things and attack more people. We've seen what he's able to do, we can't let it happen again.”   
Something in her eyes showed that she wouldn't exactly follow Loki's order but she wouldn't outright defy him at this moment. Thor and her got away and Loki got into the ship, bringing Tony in the infirmary.   
He kept his magic flowing through the mortal body as it was the only thing keeping him alive for now. But he let Bruce check everything they would need to fix either through magic or surgery. It took more than an hour before they knew they couldn't do anything more. Tony would survive, now he just had to wake up. Bruce looked at Loki and put a hand on his shoulder.   
“You should go rest. You look like you're about to faint.”  
Loki shook his head even though he couldn't deny his exhaustion. Every part of his body was hurting and he couldn't use his magic for more than a few minutes.   
“I can't. What if something happens to him?”   
“Friday will call you. You'll be more efficient if you rest properly. I'll stay with him, nothing is going to happen.”   
“I won't get away from here until he's awake.”   
Bruce let out a resigned sigh.   
“Sometimes I wonder why I try to reason with anyone in this team. At least sit down, I don't want you to faint.”   
Loki brought a chair next to Tony's bed and sat down, his eyes never leaving him.   
A few hours passed and Tony showed sign of waking up. Loki let out a relieved sigh before looking at Bruce.   
“I'll go now. Tell him as little as possible about what I've done. I'll check on him later.”   
He suddenly disappeared, leaving Bruce a bit dumbfounded.   
He appeared again into his room and collapsed on the bed. His last thoughts before falling asleep were that he couldn't let anything like that happen again, no matter what it cost him.


	2. Chapter 2

Why was everything so painful ? 

That's the first thing Tony thought as he opened his eyes before remembering what had happened.   
He turned his head to the side, noticing Bruce facing a screen.   
“Hey. How long was I down?”  
Bruce turned to look at him and let out a relieved sigh.   
“Two whole days. I was starting to believe you would stay in a coma.”   
Tony tried to sit down but quickly gave up, restraining a whine of pain.   
“I think I'd rather be in a coma, is any bone in my body still intact?”   
Bruce came closer to the bed.   
“You have several cuts, broken bones and teared muscles. But yes, some of them were miraculously left untouched.”  
Tony couldn't miss the disapprobation in Bruce's voice but he didn't make a comment.  
“I know you won't like it but you'll have to stay in bed for at least a month.” He added, bracing himself for Tony's reaction.

Tony looked outraged.   
“One month? Are you trying to kill me? You made a pact with this bad guy so you could make me die slowly and painfully out of boredom. I will be up by the end of the week.”   
Bruce rolled his eyes but a smile tugged at his lips.   
“You won't do anything until I decide you can. Don't try to negotiate with me or it will be the Other you'll have to talk to. I'm sure you'd rather avoid that.”   
“Threats now? I'm really starting to think that you have something against me.”   
Tony offended tone didn't bother the scientist who turned his attention back to the screen and let his patient rest, or rather think about what happened since he knew him well enough to be sure that he wouldn't be quiet for long. 

Tony's eyes suddenly widened and he looked back at Bruce.   
“Loki? How is he?”   
Bruce sighed softly, that wasn't a good sign.  
“Still a bit tired, but he's fine. He should be visiting you soon.”   
Tony relaxed but the look on Bruce's face made him doubt.   
“There's something you're not telling me.”  
“Loki is... furious. I've never seen him in such a state. You won't spend a nice time with him when he'll decide to visit.”   
“He could be grateful. I helped him.”   
“Well maybe you should be the grateful one this time. He saved your life.”   
Tony raised an eyebrow.   
“I'm pretty sure I'm the one who saved his life.”   
“Tony... after the impact, some of your ribs were broken and one of them pierced your lungs. There was no way I could have helped you soon enough. Loki used his magic to heal what was the most urgent and made sure you stayed alive while I did what I had to do. Without him... you would be dead. I couldn't have done anything.”   
Tony understood why Bruce had told him the god was tired, healing magic wasn't his strongest point and these types of spells took a lot of his energy. 

Loki chose that moment to get in the room. Furor was a weak word to describe the emotion on his face.   
“May I have a moment alone with Stark? I promise I won’t do anything to interfere with his healing.”   
“God of lies. Don’t believe him. Stay with me.” Tony was almost begging.  
Bruce shrugged and walked away, giving him an apologetic look.   
“Traitor.” he whispered before turning his attention to the man at the side of his bed. But Loki didn’t even turned to face him.   
“Do you have so little respect for my skills in combat that you had to get between me and my enemy Stark?”   
His voice was so cold that it made Tony shudder. He couldn’t keep his eyes on him so he just glared at the door like Bruce could see it and come back.   
“You can’t possibly be so angry because I’ve helped you. And stop calling me Stark, we’ve moved past that a while ago.”  
“I don’t think you’re understanding Stark.” Tony usually disliked being called by his last name but the tone in which it was uttered hurt. He was so used to Loki whispering his name, or screaming it depending on the kind of night they were having, that he had forgotten how scary the god was when he was displeased.   
“Any form of… proximity between us will not continue anymore. My honor as a warrior was tainted by your actions. Your pathetic attempt to help me nearly broke your weak body. I could ask for your removal of the team and your return to Midgard. I will be merciful, I won’t ask for that now. But if anything like that were to happen again I wouldn’t hesitate for one second.” 

Tony paled, he hadn’t expected such a harsh reaction. He tried to sit up, to prove that he wasn’t as weak as Loki had declared. A small sound of distress escaped him and he stayed in his position. 

“He was attacking you from your back, you couldn’t see him coming! I couldn’t let him reach you. I thought my armor was enough to protect me. And you don’t have an armor like that!” 

“I am a god. My body is stronger than yours, I would have barely felt the impact. You are weak and you don’t deserve to be in this team. From now on, you will keep your distance with me.” 

“Go fuck yourself.”

Loki didn’t answer and left the room. 

Bruce came back in a few seconds later.   
“Given the look on both your faces, I guess it didn’t go well.”

Tony didn’t answer, still shocked by his conversation. He hadn’t expected that their relationship could end like that. Of course he had known from the beginning that Loki would never have feelings for him. Not as strong as his anyway. But he had believed that at least he appreciated and respected him. What a fool. The god of lies had used him and now that he had showed just how weak he was, he was thrown out. It wouldn’t have been a problem if he hadn’t been stupid enough to fall in love. He had never told anyone, never showed anything, hoping that their unavoidable downfall wouldn’t hurt so much. Clearly, it hadn’t worked. But he wouldn’t cry. Not in front of Loki, not in front of Bruce, not in front of anyone. Although by the way the scientist was looking at him, he probably already guessed how he felt for the god and how hurt he was. 

“I am sure that you won’t tell me anything yet, but I will be there when you’ll want to talk about this. Although I might not be the best person to give relationship advice.” Bruce’s voice was even softer than usual and the worry on his features was worse than when Tony had woken up. 

“You launched yourself into space to avoid Natasha! You are the best person to tell me how to avoid Loki at all cost. It may be a bit harder since we are already into space. This ship is big but I will have to see him sometime. Unless I stay in my room. I just have to make a new workshop next to it, and a kitchen, and a private bathroom. Seriously, who decided that there wouldn’t be a bathroom attached to every room? That’s bad design and it has to change. I’m sure I can find all I need to make one for myself.”   
Tony kept rambling, not expecting Bruce to answer or even to listen to him. He just needed to keep thinking about anything but what had happened. He closed his eyes after a while and spoke slowly. 

“I just woke up from a two days of sleep, why I am already so tired?”  
Bruce shrugged, a smile tugging at his lips.   
“Maybe it’s the fact that you almost died and that your body is still… not in a perfect state to say the least. Or it’s because you’re getting old and lazy. I can’t tell which theory is the right one though.”

“Me, old? You’re hurting me Brucey!”

“Try to sleep. You need to rest.”

Bruce left the room and Tony felt relieved. He adored Bruce but it was exhausting to try to stay composed in front of him. He needed to stay alone to think about what had happened. He didn’t understand Loki’s reaction. Even if his ego was bruised Tony couldn’t find an explanation for so much anger and harsh words. But he didn’t blame Loki. He blamed himself for being so hurt. He had prepared himself. He had known that what they had meant nothing. But now he doubted he could even stay on the team. If Loki didn’t deem him worthy in battle why wouldn’t Thor or Valkyrie hold the same opinion? Once again, he had let himself believe that he had found friends, a family. But he had to be honest with himself and admit that relationships weren’t for him, neither was any form of affection. It never ended well. Maybe he should ask to leave the team before he was thrown out. Or he could stay hidden in his room and talk only to Bruce. Even if that thought crossed his mind, he knew it wouldn’t be possible, he didn’t want to stay where he wasn’t welcome. 

Finally, his exhaustion was stronger than his thoughts and he fell asleep. But his rest didn’t last long as he woke up in the middle of the night, sure that he had felt someone in the room. He tried to look around but couldn’t see or hear anyone despite the soft light of the machines in the room. He closed his eyes again but couldn’t fall asleep again. 

To his surprise, Bruce didn’t bring him breakfast in the morning. Instead, Thor opened the door, a plate in his hands. 

“Good morning Tony. I apologize for not coming sooner. Do your wounds still cause you pain?” 

“Less than yesterday...” That didn’t mean he was alright. Most movements were still near impossible. “Tell me you won’t feed me.” He would rather starve than have his teammate do this for him. 

“One of your machines will do it. Doctor Banner strictly forbade you from trying to do it alone and I am to ensure that his orders are respected.”

Tony groaned, this option didn’t please him much more but it wasn’t as bad. The god sat down next to him.   
“I wanted to thank you for what you did for my brother.” 

“My intervention didn’t please him as much as it pleased you.” He couldn’t help the bitterness in his voice.

“His pride was wounded. He will forgive even if his rancor tends to last long. What you did wasn’t smart but it was heroic. I am sure that he would not have been as fine as he pretended had the machine hit him.” 

Tony let out a chuckle.   
“Never let him know you said that.” 

Thor smiled.   
“I won’t. I know too well how he would react. But don’t worry, my brother will come back to you.” 

Tony’s eyes widened, he couldn’t believe Thor knew what had been happening between his brother and him. The smile on the god’s face widened.   
“Did you really think nobody would notice the nights you spent together? You weren’t as discreet as you thought.” 

Tony paled, if even Thor had noticed, they really had been obvious. 

“You won’t attempt to throw me out of the ship to avenge your brother’s honor?” 

Thor’s laughter filled the room.   
“If Loki had wanted his honor to be defended, he would have thrown you himself into the void. You do not have to fear me.” 

Tony relaxed and let out a relieved sigh. He still hoped this conversation wouldn’t last long. The last thing he wanted was to think about Loki even more and to be reminded of how he had screwed up. He was glad to see him go a few minutes later after he had wished him a quick healing. He had barely touched the food and ignored Bruce’s disapproval. The next days were all the same, paced by Bruce and Thor’s visits, and even Valkyrie came sometimes. His health got better so quickly that Bruce was impressed and let him get up after only two weeks. 

Even though he was thrilled to get out of the room after so long but he couldn’t help being anxious to meet Loki for the first time since they had talked. He couldn’t let the god see his pain, he would guess how deep Tony’s feelings were. But staying locked there would make him go mad and he that would be doing what Loki probably wanted. Tony wasn't going to let him win. 

So he went to the kitchen and tensed when he heard noises coming from there. He relaxed when he realized it was Thor who spoke to him.   
“I am happy to see you up. How are you?”

“Better. But hungry. Tell me there's something to eat, I'm sure I could make this ship blow up if I tried to cook by myself right now.” 

“Of course. I was just making something for myself, you're welcome to share my meal.”

Tony sat down at the table, glad that everything was going well. But of course Loki choose this moment to show up. His eyes lingered on Tony a bit but his expression stayed cold and he didn't utter a word for him. He sat down as far as possible from Tony and just looked at Thor.   
“I hope the invitation extends to me.”

“Yeah, he can have my part. I'm not so hungry after all. I'll go see Bruce, I'm sure we can work on some awesome project.” Tony blurted out before almost running out of the kitchen. 

 

Once alone, Tony took a decision. He couldn't handle this situation. At least not sober. Instead of getting in the lab where Bruce probably was, he walked in the training room. Valkyrie was there, just as he thought. She interrupted her training immediately and tilted her head.   
“What's bringing you here? I'm sure Bruce didn't allow you to train already. Is there a problem?” 

Tony smiled but he could see that it wasn't' convincing enough.   
“Yeah, the problem is that you know where the alcohol is and I don't. I know you have some.” 

She looked part amused and part worried, her eyebrows raised and a her eyes a bit too piercing for his liking. He didn't want pity.  
“I don't have anything a mortal could handle. Especially not one who is still healing from deep wounds.” 

“You could be surprised by what I'm able to handle.”

She rolled her eyes.   
“I doubt it. And the last thing this team needs is for you to be drunk.” 

Tony snorted and almost answered that the last thing this team needed was him, sober or not.   
“Listen. I won't stay sober. If I have to dismantle this ship piece by piece to find where your alcohol is hidden, I will do it without hesitation.”

The worry in her eyes shifted to irritation. That was better, something he was used to, something he knew how to react to.  
“Or you could act like a responsible person and talk it out with Loki.” 

“I didn't come here for advice. And you know, it wouldn't bother me but Loki has been pretty clear about it. Any communication between us must be in life or death situations. And even then, I'm not sure he would so much as glace at me.” 

She suddenly burst in laughter. He frowned and clenched his fists, he hadn't expected her to mock him.   
“Loki would be at your side in a second if you were injured. Even if it was just a paper cut.” 

He snorted again, the team seemed to have illusions about the nature of their relationship. 

“You're wrong. He wouldn't budge if I had a sword in my heart. We fucked. That was great. But he doesn't give a fuck about me.” 

Valkyrie let out a sigh and sat down.   
“You didn't see his reaction when the robot hit you. His magic... it was like it exploded. Almost every other machine dropped on the floor instantly. You didn't see how fast he was by your side. You didn't see the look on his face. You didn't' hear him begging for you to stay alive. You didn't hear his broken voice. It wasn't the voice of someone who doesn't give a fuck.”

Tony gulped, his eyes wide.   
“Why didn't anybody tell me of this before?” 

“Because Loki ordered us to keep it secret. But it's stupid and I won't let his pride hurt you if I can help it. You don't deserve that.” 

“But then why is he so angry? Why does he act like that? Even if his pride was wounded by my action, why did he never come to see me, at least to... I don't know, maybe wish me to be well soon. Something.” 

She now had a glint in her eyes. 

“I have a theory. There are cameras in the infirmary right? Can you show what happened while you were asleep? It could be interesting.” 

Tony was a bit lost but definitely intrigued so he asked Friday to show what the cameras had filmed.   
He watched himself fall asleep and only a few minutes later, Loki showed up. He seemed to be almost in pain. His hands got on top of Tony's wounds and a green light flowed from them. He was healing him. Then he sat down on the chair next to the bed and just watched him sleep, a soft smile on his lips. It happened every night for the first week. He always disappeared before Tony woke up. 

Next to Tony, Valkyrie grinned.   
“I knew it! Bruce was so surprised by how quickly you were getting better, it could only be Loki’s magic.” 

Tony felt a bit lighter than before but kept being confused. Why had Loki done that and still ignored him afterwards? 

“Alright. I’ll try to talk with him. But I can’t guarantee he will accept to see me.” 

“Don’t worry. If he doesn’t, we’ll find a way to make him listen to reason. I’ve captured him once, I can do it again.”

The smile on Tony’s face looked genuine this time. He left the room before asking. 

“Friday, where is Loki?” 

“In his room sir.” she answered. “He was very clear about not wanting to be bothered by anyone.” 

Tony shrugged and still knocked at his door, if he didn’t do it now he would lose his courage and probably run away. Loki didn’t answer so he just knocked harder.   
“I already told you I didn’t want to see you Thor. Leave me alone!” 

“It’s a good thing I’m not your brother then.” He tried to keep his tone happy to hide the fear he felt. 

The answer didn’t reassure him at all.  
“Go away. You’re wasting my time.” 

“You didn’t think staying next to a weak mortal while he slept was a waste of your time though. So why not spare some now that he’s awake.” 

The door suddenly opened, Loki grabbed Tony’s arm and pulled him inside before closing the door again. Tony couldn’t tell what the god was thinking,   
“You shouldn’t know that. You were asleep the whole time. I would have noticed if you had woken up while I was there.” 

“I wasn’t awake. I look at the records from the cameras.”   
“So you spied on me.”   
“It’s not spying if I was in the room too.” 

Loki let go of Tony’s arm and stood straighter, still glaring at him. 

“So I helped you. That doesn’t change anything.”   
“I know how you reacted when I was injured...” 

The cold mask on Loki’s face crumbled at those words and came closer to Tony. 

“When you were injured? You were more than injured! You weren’t breathing! Your heart had stopped beating!. You almost died trying to protect me. If I had been more careful...” 

“It wasn’t your fault. I acted without thinking as usual.”   
“But you did it for me! It can’t happen again!”

Tony gasped as realization hit him. Of course. He should have known why he had reacted that way. He would probably do the same thing if he was in Loki’s situation. He took a deep breath and put a hand on Loki’s cheek. The god flinched and pulled away, not looking at him anymore.   
“That’s why you didn’t want our… relationship anymore. You hoped that if I believed you despised me, I wouldn’t want to risk my life for you again.” 

Loki took a step back, not answering. Tony sighed deeply, smiling fondly.   
“Did you really think that would work?”   
“I hoped you would decide to leave the team. That way I would have known for sure that it would never happen again. At least you would have been safe. We can’t continue. You can’t be hurt for me.”

Tony sighed once again.  
“Listen to me please. You must be aware that being away from you won’t make my… tendency to self sacrifice disappear. I won’t stop getting in dangerous situations either. I… I understand if you can’t handle that. Pepper couldn’t either. But pushing me away to protect me will be useless.” 

Loki stayed silent for a while, obviously torn. He suddenly grabbed Tony and wrapped his arms around him, holding him so tight it almost hurt.   
“You better not die or I will come to Valhalla to bring you back to me.”   
Tony wrapped his arms around the god’s waist and closed his eyes, smiling softly at what the words implied. Loki wouldn’t have said that if he didn’t feel anything for him.   
“I’ll do my best. I’d rather stay with you too.” 

Loki must have understood the ‘I love you’ hidden between those words because he kissed Tony in a way he had never done before. He wasn’t used to kisses so soft and tender but he already knew they were going to be his favorites.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing this so I hope you will enjoy it! I'm already thinking about writing a sequel to that.


End file.
